Iran: production of metal products increased by 2%

Steel production in Iran increased by two percent during the first ten months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2020 - January 19, 2021) compared to the corresponding period last year.

As reported, for ten months of this year, 12.145 million tons of metal products were produced.

Although in the tenth month of this year, the production of these products fell by six percent compared to the same month last year.

The production of metal products in the tenth month of this year amounted to 1.139 million tons.

Iran's steel product exports in the last Iranian calendar year (ending March 19, 2020) increased 27 percent over the previous year.

As reported, last year the country's largest steel producers managed to export about 7.33 million tons of products.

The Iranian government has imposed a 25 percent duty on the export of minerals (especially iron ore) since late September 2019, as Islamic Revolution leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei urged the government to prevent the export of minerals to be processed in the country to produce higher value-added products.

The Ministry of Industry believes the duty will stimulate the production of more processed minerals such as pellets and concentrate, rather than selling minerals.

Deputy Minister of Industry, Mining and Trade Dariush Esmaily said that if 10 years ago Iran exported more than 20 million tons of unprocessed iron ore, then last year this figure fell to 6 million tons.